Summary: Strahan sets out for diversity, mixing different sub-genres. But he doesn’t exactly reach this target: Many of the SF stories are near future, many of the authors seem to have a kind of subscription for appearance in his annual anthology. He could have chosen different authors from all over the world stretching the known comfort zone a bit.

On a personal note, I didn’t like the inclusion of horror stories at all – I don’t like them or even hate them. It would be fair at least to mark the story’s genre such that I could simply skip them.

Having said that, there is something in it for everyone, and there are a couple of very good stories. Considering the overall quality of the selected stories, 2014 doesn’t seem to have been one of the best years for SF&F.

My favourite ★★★★★ stories were

Moriabe’s Children by Paolo Bacigalupi

Collateral by Peter Watts

☆ or ★ (mostly because they are horror stories) for me were

Interstate Love Song (Murder Ballad No.8) by Caitlín R. Kiernan

Mothers, Lock Up Your Daughters Because They are Terrifying by Alice Sola Kim

★ • “Interstate Love Song (Murder Ballad No.8)” • horror story by Caitlín R. Kiernan • I can’t stand horror stories; if this is your genre, this might be a very good one, literary writing style, good tension arc. But completely misplaced in a „Best of SF and Fantasy“.

☆ • “Mothers, Lock Up Your Daughters Because They are Terrifying” • horror story by Alice Sola Kim • again a horror story which I dislike. This one I couldn’t connect and I simply skipped pages. Not worth reading for people like me.